Supreme Court grants 'Lusitania' owner divinglicence to explore wreck

The American owner of the wreck of the Lusitania has secured a licence to carry out a $2 million (€1.5 million) research expedition, including permission to dive into the vessel which lies off the Old Head of Kinsale, Co Cork.

F. Gregg Bemis confirmed the granting of the licence in a statement issued after the Supreme Court declared, in a judgment yesterday, that the Minister for Arts and Heritage had misinterpreted the law in dismissing as invalid his application in 2001 for a diving licence to carry out the expedition.

The ship sank off the southwest coast after being hit by a German submarine in May 1915 with the loss of 1,195 passengers and crew.

While another refusal, in 2003, by the Minister of a diving licence to Mr Bemis was not challenged, the owner last week secured a licence which, according to sources close to him, meets his requirements.

Mr Bemis said his objective of "careful and responsible historic research on my personal property, the Lusitania, has been over 30 years in the making". He hoped the Supreme Court's decision would mark the end of "a long and painful judicial process". It was "high time" the examination of what caused the massive and fatal second explosion leading to the 18-minute sinking was pursued, he added.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Minister's refusal in May 2001 to consider the diving licence application because it was submitted on "an inappropriate form" or because it was not accompanied by an application for an excavation licence was an error in law and therefore void. The Minister had misinterpreted the relevant sections of national monuments legislation, it said.

While the Minister was fully entitled to seek more detailed information on the works proposed in order to assess the scope of the licence sought, he had not done so but wrongly rejected the application on the basis of its alleged invalidity, the court said.

The three-judge court was unanimously dismissing the Minister's appeal against a High Court decision that his 2001 dismissal of Mr Bemis's licence application was invalid.

The court noted Mr Bemis has brought separate proceedings raising constitutional claims relating to ownership of and property in the Lusitania and the consequences which flowed from those. Ms Justice Fidelma Macken said it would be "wholly inappropriate" for the Supreme Court to rule on property rights relating to rivets on the Lusitania or other items in advance of that case being decided.

An Underwater Heritage Order was made in January 1995 under the National Monuments Act providing that the site be "protected". However, it also provides that an application may be made to the Commissioners of Public Works for a licence to carry out certain activities.

The High Court in May 1996 made an order declaring that Mr Bemis, of New Mexico, was owner of the wreck. Mr Bemis brought proceedings after the Minister, in a letter of May 22nd, 2001, rejected his application for a licence for a five-year diving expedition on the wreck as "invalid".

Mr Bemis sought to be permitted to salvage and sell objects from the wreck in order to defray some of the $3 million cost of acquiring the wreck and of his diving operations. He also wished to salvage other items for preservation and subsequent permanent display in museums in Ireland and to form travelling exhibitions abroad, particularly in the US.